January 14, 2014 - UNITED STATES - Some strange booms have shaken residents in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin.

Cracking up: Dennis Olsen measures a giant fissure, which he measured to
be an inch wide and at least eight
to ten inches deep, in his rural
driveway in Waupun, Wisconsin, after a weather phenomenon
known as an
ice quake occurred recently

The series of explosion-like sounds rattled residents from Waupun, Campbellsport and elsewhere Tuesday and sent Fond du Lac County sheriff's deputies out looking for a cause.

Geologists say the booms were likely a phenomenon commonly known as an ice quake.

They are the after-effects of the frost quakes - or cryoseism - which are more commonly found on glaciers in the polar regions.

It's caused by water that sinks into the soil and bedrock where it freezes and expands, causing an explosive popping sound that feels like a mild earthquake.

Most frost quakes occur after a heavy rainfall or snow fall when there is a large amount of moisture on the ground.

Cold weather phenomena: It results from water freezing and expanding in the soil and bedrock.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee seismologist Brett Ketter tells Action Reporter Media he experienced an ice quake this week and initially thought the pipes had burst in his house.

Mr Ketter says he ran outside in his slippers to see if something had hit his house.

One family had to deal with a giant, 100-foot long crack in their rural driveway.

Dennis Olsen heard an explosive sound and initially thought his garage might have blown up. That wasn't the case. Then he checked his basement, thinking a wall had split. Everything looked fine.

It wasn't until the next morning that Olsen discovered the driveway fissure.

He called the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department. Deputies knew what happened because other residents in the area had experienced the same booming sounds of an ice quake.

Olsen said it's the first time he's ever seen the effects of an ice quake.

Earlier this month, Canadian residents also reported hearing similar booms.

Frost quake or cryoeism: This graph explains how the frost quakes come
about due to expansion caused by water that has frozen quickly

'We had the ice storm or freezing rain event, then we had warm temperatures, or just about freezing at the surface.

Then the temperatures plummeted after that,' said Dayna Vettese, a meteorologist with the Weather Network.

'That's why we've seen a couple of these events between the ice storm and the beginning of 2014.'

Around Toronto just after Christmas there was a thaw after some heavy snow fall that allowed ice to accumulate under the soil.

'It's almost like an earthquake because it's very close to the surface. You will feel a little bit of shaking, maybe if you're sitting in a chair and it happened, or you're lying in bed, or some of your dishes might rattle,' said Ms. Vettese.

However, while unusual for Wisconsin and southern Canada, frost quakes are definitely the norm in the north of the notoriously cold nation. - Daily Mail.

January 14, 2014 - JAPAN - Fish with deadly levels of radioactive cesium have been caught just off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, as scientists continue to assess the damage caused to the marine food chain by the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Reuters / Kim Hong-Ji

One of the samples of the 37 black sea bream specimens caught some 37 kilometers south of the crippled power plant tested at 12,400 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium, making it 124 times deadlier than the threshold considered safe for human consumption, Japan's Fisheries Research Agency announced.

The samples were caught at the mouth of the Niidagawa river in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on November 17. Two other fish caught there also tested non-safe for human consumption, showing radiations levels of 426 and 197 becquerels per kilogram. The rest of the fish were reportedly within safety limits.

Black sea bream are currently restricted from being fished in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures and sold for human consumption, as scientists from the Fisheries Research Agency say they plan to investigate the source of the contamination further.

After the Fukushima disaster, Japan lowered its threshold for cesium levels in food from 500 becquerels per kg to 100 becquerels per kilo, making the country’s regulations six times stricter than European Union standards. The record cesium reading was recorded last year when a fish caught near the plant carried 740,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram.

Professor Chris Busby from the Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk and a member of the UK Department of Health Committee Examining Radiation Risk for Internal Emitters (CERRIE), says that despite a high level of radiation in the marine food chain, Japan so far is the only one dealing with a direct threat.

“The concentrations of radionuclides, which are going to the Pacific or have been injected to the Pacific, by the time they get to the US, and to China and to South East Korea and so on will not be enormously high,” Busby told Voice of Russia.

Yet the scientist warned that nuclear contamination of Japan could result in 400-800 extra cancer cases in Japan in the next fifty years.

“We've already seen some effects in infant mortality and thyroid cancer in Japan,” Busby said. “So I think this is just going to get worse. I think we are going to see a major effect on the general health of the Japanese population in Northern Japan. There's going to be a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in the death rate.”

In the meantime, TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear site, reported radiation levels 8 times government safety guidelines. TEPCO told press that the predominant reason behind the sharp increase in radiation at the plant was X-rays coming from storage tanks holding radioactive water that has been leaking from the Fukushima facility. - RT.

January 14, 2014 - UNITED STATES - Another arctic blast is on its way for residents in the Midwest and East Coast still reeling from last week's brutal polar vortex -- but according to meteorologists, it won't be as severe.

Ice from the breath forms around this woman as she exercises by walking outside in during last week's polar vortex.

The polar plunge's expected path for this week is seen here...

The upcoming front of icy temperatures is expected to first bring arctic air to southern Canada, then move into the northern plains of the U.S. before moving to the Midwest and East Coast -- each of which is still recovering from last week's frigid temperatures.

'Following the retreat of arctic air this weekend, waves of progressively colder will move southward over Canada next week,' AccuWeather.com Lead Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok told AOL.com.

The new arctic blast is due to the northern plains by Monday, the lower Mississippi Valley and Midwest on Tuesday and on Wednesday then the East on Thursday.

...and by the middle of week residents near the Great Lakes should
expect lake-effect snow. North Central states and states in the interior
Northeast are expected to see temperatures at or below zero

Bundle up: Another blast of arctic air is expected to hit the U.S. next week - despite mild temperatures over the weekend

Frozen: Arctic air from last week's Polar Vortex caused many parts of the Great Lakes to freeze over

The polar vortex last week was so cold that Niagara Falls froze in an incredibly rare occurrence

A train can be seen passing over the ice-packed Delaware in New Jersey at the weekend

Like the last bout of icy air, this one is the result of a portion of the polar vortex breaking away from the Arctic Circle.

'We will likely see a piece of the polar vortex break off and set up just north of the Great Lakes spanning Jan. 16 to 20,' Mr Pastelok said.

'This next main arctic blast will not rival, nor will be as extensive as the event this past week,' he continued.

Unlike the last push of cold air, weather experts expect temperatures to stay above zero in most locations in the Ohio Valley, central Appalachians, the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest.

North Central states and states in the interior Northeast, however, are expected to see temperatures at or below zero.

Additionally, anyone near the Great Lakes should also expect lake-effect snow.

There is also a chance that the cold air could deposit snow in parts of the South and along the East coast later in the week.

Many areas are still recovering from the extreme weather last week, which has caused a dam of ice to block the Delaware river in New Jersey, forcing roads to close and causing a severe flood risk.

A Coast Guard ice cutter has been called in to try to clear shipping lanes but after 2 and half miles the 2ft ice had become to thick to break up.

Heather Welsh looks across the ice-filled Susquehanna river, near Harrisburg in Pennsylvania on Saturday

Weather maps for the middle of next week show the polar vortex creeping back across the U.S.

Blocked: Ice piles up on the Delaware river near Trenton, New Jersey, on Saturday, causing flooding

Jim Kuciel takes photos of the frozen Delaware on Saturday, where the build up of ice is causing a flood risk

Mist rises from the Delaware as chunks of ice ride up near Trenton, New Jersey at the weekend

Chunks of ice have been building up for days near the Trenton Makes Bridge, ABC News reported. But with the sudden warm temperatures, it is feared a fast thaw will flood low-lying areas.

'If in fact the ice jam breaks then we'll have a rush of water which could cause flash flooding,' Qareeb Bashir, of Trenton Emergency Management, said.

Flash flood warnings are in place in several of the regions affected by the polar vortex, as rain falling on the already frozen ground is forced to run off.

Nearly all of Pennsylvania is under a flood warning after the sudden rise in temperatures caused a faster than usual thaw.

A chaotic scene of ice chunks could be seen stretching across the state's Susquehanna river near Harrisburg on Saturday morning.

But the thaw is likely to be halted by the new cold front coming in, even though it is not expected to be as severe as the one last week. - Daily Mail.

January 14, 2014 - UNITED STATES - Gusty winds are not being ruled out in a train derailment that happened near Austin, where 25 train cars were derailed.

Train derails northwest of Helena, no injuries reported.

High winds caused a train derailment near Helena. Authorities were at the scene cleaning up the debris on Monday.

Wind gusts of up to 75 mph were reported in the area with sustained winds around 45 mph.

The derailment wad reported around 5 a.m. on Monday, and is only affecting the east side tracks.

It was reported that most of the cars which were double-stacked were empty; no hazardous material was reported in the ones that were.

Train traffic was able to continue with use of the other tracks but is very slow due to gusty winds.

There are no reports of injuries.

(UPDATE, 2:15 pm) Montana Rail Link released the following information:

At approximately 4:55 am today there was a five-car Montana Rail Link derailment 13 miles west of Helena.

A preliminary investigation indicates the
train was impacted by high winds while moving through a curve on the
Continental Divide.

Montana saw some of the strongest wind gusts in years on Monday. Wind
gusts topped 100 miles per hour in some locations. By far, the highest
winds occurred in the higher elevations of the Northern Rockies.

January 14, 2014 - SPACE - So many new comets were discovered last year that astronomers named 2013 the 'Year of the Comet'.
Less popularlized was the noticeable increase in fireball meteors
observed in the Earth's atmosphere. Another year has passed and
fireballs are still raining down like never before, with their rate
apparently increasing exponentially.

SOTT.net has been cataloguing fireball events since 2002, and a couple of other websites
have sprung up since then, but in general the lack of record-keeping
and media coverage of this phenomenon is shocking, especially given how
extraordinary the phenomenon is (or rather, was - apparently it's 'normal' now!) and whatever it may portend for civilization, sometime in the future, if not immediately.

One relatively new resource is the American Meteor Society's 'Fireball Logs',
a database where eyewitnesses have been submitting reports of fireball
events in the U.S. The AMS does subsequent checks to verify events with
the All-Sky Fireball Camera Network set up by NASA's Meteoroid
Environment Office (MEO) and other observation networks. Their stats are
remarkable, yet they do fit with what we've noticed at SOTT.net in
recent years: the numbers just keep going up and up, and at an ever
increasing rate!

Using the AMS data, which begins in 2005, I've created the following
tables to give readers a visual for what's going on. Check this out:

The table below shows the number of fireball reports submitted to the
AMS between 2005 and 2013, displaying the annual variation:

The real numbers are probably much higher because the above only represents what has been reported and seen
in the US alone. So I think it is not stretching to suggest that the
real numbers for the US, as well as for the planet as a whole, are far
more impressive than what you can see in those charts.

One naturally starts to wonder if the increase in newly discovered moons around other planets in the solar system is related...

By the way, before 1979 there were less than a dozen known 'Sun-grazing
comets'. As of December 2012, NASA had discovered or knew of over 2,500.

And if we take a look at the number of newly discovered Near Earth Objects (NEOs), we see a similar dramatic increase:

But it doesn't stop there, the whole solarsystem seems to be undergoing a change,
with the weakest solar cycle in 100 years, new bodies being discovered
beyond Neptune and, bizarrely, the tally of Jupiter's moons going up and
down, apparently randomly.

In February last year, just three days after Laura Knight-Jadczyk
published her book on the cyclical nature of cosmic catastrophes in
Earth's history, Comets and the Horns of Moses, a large meteor exploded in the skies above Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Contrary to what what we're told through mainstream science, comets and
comet swarms have destroyed civilizations in recorded history. Never
mind 'the big one', in each case it was the large amounts of smaller
debris, the earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes that seem to coincide
with such events, and finally, a 'plague' (possibly carried on the
meteorites/comets themselves) that sounded the death knell for previous
civilizations.

Then there were at least four huge fireball events in the UnitedStatesofAmerica last year that were similar to the one in Chelyabinsk and were reported by over 4,300 people in up to 18 states.

This small selection of fireball events in 2013 and the above charts
reveal a clear message, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to
figure it out: the 'sky gods' are angry!

Where will this lead to? Nobody knows for sure, but if our true history
shows us one thing, it's that when a civilization is thoroughly
corrupted and infected by psychopaths in power, to the extent we're seeing in our world today, and when people just sit back and allow it to happen, our environment seems to respond in a rather unpleasant way, to say the least.

January 14, 2014 - WORLDWIDE VOLCANOES - The following constitutes the new activity, unrest and ongoing reports of volcanoes across the globe.

Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung erupted more than 30 times Tuesday spewing lava and ash clouds over a wide area, officials said, with more than 26,000 people now forced to flee their homes.

Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash and lava near Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. After a few days of
deceiving calm, the eruption of the volcano
intensified again today and produced the so-far largest
pyroclastic
flows, reaching probably more than 5-6 km in length, and associated
ash
plumes that rose to approx. 25,000 ft (8 km) altitude. AFP Photo.

Sinabung, which lies in the northwest of Indonesia’s Sumatra island, sent hot rocks and ash 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) into in the air, spreading hot clouds over a 4.5 kilometres radius, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation told AFP.

With the volcano erupting regularly, many of those who have left their homes since Sinabung started erupting in September have fallen ill, a local government official said.

WATCH: Sinabung volcano activity.

“Some refugees are sick, coughing mainly, and they are also in need of clean water,” Robert Peranginangin,a spokesman for Karo district, told AFP.

Volcanoes are a regular threat for many living in Indonesia near their fertile slopes. Mount Sinabung is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia that straddle major tectonic fault lines, known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

It had been quiet for around 400 years until it rumbled back to life in 2010, and again in September last year.

In August 2013, five people were killed and hundreds evacuated when a volcano on a small island in East Nusa Tenggara province erupted.

The country’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of eruptions in 2010.

Shiveluch (Kamchatka):
The volcano continues to erupt viscous lava and has frequent small to
medium-sized explosions. This morning, it produced again an ash plume
that rose to estimated 27,000 ft (8.1 km) altitude that drifted WSW,
Tokyo VAAC alerted the aviation community.

Ash plume from Shiveluch this morning (KVERT webcam).

Aso (Kyushu):
The volcano had a small eruption from the Nakadake crater today. On the
following webcam video for the past 30 hours, a strong increase in
activity can be noted during the past 12 hours. The degassing plume
possibly contains some ash and faint red glow is visible on some images
of tonight (towards the end of the video):

WATCH: Aso volcano activity.

VAAC Tokyo confirms a small ash plume that drifted south at approx 2000 m
altitude. A small thermal anomaly is identifiable on satellite data as
well.

The volcano is active from 2 vents in the Nakadake crater. During the
night, sometime strong incandescence, suggesting possible weak
(strombolian-type) ejections of lava, steaming and minor ash venting are
visible.

WATCH: Aso volcano activity.

Suwanose-jima (Tokara Islands, Japan):
Activity remains elevated. Bright glow from what is most likely strong
and near-continuous strombolian activity, a degassing plume and
sometimes low ash plumes are visible on the webcam:

Ambrym (Vanuatu):
Richard Henley (geology professor from Australia) posted a great video
of the active lava lakes of Ambrym and strombolian activity in Yasur,
taken in Aug 2012 during our Vanuatu volcano tour:

WATCH: Volcanoes in Vanuatu.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico):
Activity at the volcano has increased a bit. The number of
steam/gas/sometimes ash emissions rose to 11 (from averages of 2-3). The
strongest explosions produced small ash plumes rising up to approx 1 km
yesterday. CENAPRED also recorded a small volcano-tectonic earthquake
of magnitude 2.3 yesterday.

Small ash emission from Popocatépetl yesterday.

During some periods of the night incandescence was observed over the crater.

Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala):
The volcano's activity has remained essentially unchanged. Small
explosions, intense degassing and viscous lava extrusion, especially on
the NE side of the Caliente dome were reported this morning.

Pacaya (Guatemala):
Activity continues to decrease back to normal levels. Apart from weak
activity left at the southern fissure, the lava flow emission has ceased
and the flows are now cooling. Strombolian activity at the summit vent
decreased as well back to mild levels with ejections rarely surpassing
50 m.
Video from the lava flows 2 days ago:

The explosions were often accompanied by
rumblings and moderate shock waves. Ashfall occurred in the villages
Panimaché, Morelia, Sta. Sofía, Panimaché II, Ceilán, Rochela and San
Andrés Osuna.

No significant changes have occurred, but the authorities warn that
another eruption in the near to medium-term
future cannot be ruled out.
Seismic activity with the presence of volcanic tremor remains at
elevated, fluctuating
levels. A degassing, SO2-rich plume rises about
150 meters above the crater. Current seismic signal at San Miguel
volcano (VSM station, MARN)

San Miguel (El Salvador): The alert status remains today in El Salvador by seismic activity of the Chaparrastique volcano, except in the eastern department of San Miguel, where the volcano of 2130 meters above sea level is located. According to the latest special report from Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), as vibrations persist and gases column is visible, the possibility of another eruption is not ruled out in the coming days or weeks through the central crater or their flanks.

Environment officials are urging people not to approach the volcano crater and abide by the instructions issued by the General Department of Civil Protection. MARN explained that the vibration levels and emission have shown changes but remain. Comments that include images captured by Web cameras installed northwest, southwest and south of the volcano indicate that the emission of gases from the crater have remained without significant changes and have reached a height of 150 meters. The Chaparrastique had an eruption on 29 December that forced the country’s authorities to evacuate nearby populations. The performance of Civil Protection, in coordination with the various state agencies prevented loss of life and serious injuries.

Nevado del Huila (Colombia):
Following a nearby magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 06:07 local time on 9
Jan, a swarm of volcanic-tectonic quakes was detected at 12-16 km
distance NE of the volcano and at approx 10 km depth. During the first
day, more than 600 small quakes were recorded. The swarm decreased over
the past days and no other (visual, deformation etc.) changes at the
volcano were observed.

Galeras (Colombia):
The volcano emitted again small ash plumes yesterday. The rate of such
small eruptions has apparently picked up. Pasto observatory last
reported similar small ash emissions on 13, 26 and 31 December, and on 8
January.

Ash emissions from Galera yesterday (INGEOMINAS).

No significant seismic activity accompanies these events
which suggests that the volcano is currently not heading for more
violent activity.

Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia):
Over the past weeks, the volcano continued to have rather low seismic
activity, mainly in the "usual" area S and SE of the Arenas crater at
approx 8 km depth. At the surface, the volcano produces intense
degassing with a plume sometimes reaching 1.5 km height.

SO2 plume from Nevado del Ruiz volcano (NOAA)

Sotará (Colombia):
Seismic activity remains above background and is mainly associated to
internal rock fracturing processes. During the first week of the new
year, the number of earthquakes increased slightly, with a magnitude 3.7
quake at 12:22 local time on 5 Jan.